Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-03-11

| II I.
| William llu.burt, Moses Catlin, at whose
house the church was organized Chit
tenden Merritt, Horace Wheeler-these
are some of the worthy names hat belong
TO the church record of those days Dea-
con Mitchell, who is still with us, is also
of their number Dr.. Hatch, also deacon
of the church for some years, Deacon
Hamilton, aud Deacon Grant are also men
| not to be forgotten, as well as Deacon
Nichols and Deacon Storrs, all earnest
workers in the church, The members of
the choir for several years were Mr.. A. :.
| Dewey, Augustus kimball, Martin A.
Seymour, Louis FOllett William Hurl-
burt, Susan Strong, Marcia Bailey. Caro-
| line Blackman and Caroline A. Fay. They
sang TO the time aud tune of the bass
and double-bass viols' the latter of which
was managed by our honored friend, the
late j. :. Pierce"
After Il comparison of the style of church
singing in that day with the more operate
| performance of some city ChOirs at the
/ present time and after an al1ectonate al
fusion to Deacon Mitchell. one of the two
oldest resident members of the church, the
other being Miss Adeline White, Deacon
/ klmball closed with some practical re
Elections, to which it would be well ii all
who heard them would take heed.
There was an evident feeling of pleas
ure when Rev. DR. Worcester, pastor of
the church from lSi1 to 1855, stepped for.
ward to give some Of the "reminiscences
| connected with his passionate. HIS first
visit to burlington was i'll 1870, when he
| passed the night at the house OF President
! Wheeler, who was then living at the cor
ner of Pearl and Willard streets. On this
| occasion it was that in passing by the
house of Prof. &. W. Benedict, III com
| pany with DIR. Wheeler, he was introduced
to DR.. James Marsh, who, with Mr.. Bene-
dict was standing by the gate; 'and,"
SAID DR.. Worcester, 81 well remember the
/ mr. Gi1tn Ia
manner made upon me, of most modest,
| gentle and unassunlng man, and, If may
be allowed to coin word, most unselt-
conscious man.
His next visit was in attendance upon
the General Convention of CONGREGATIONAL
ministers and churches i'll 1910, the year
after he began to preach. This time he
put up at Mr.. BOwman'S, at the corner of
Church and Bank streets The present
church edlce was not yet finished and the
convention met in the old lecture room,
which had been enlarged by a long rectan-
gular addition across the east end. At
| this time he both saw and heard eN-
President Marsh, who spoke in reply to
Mr.. Slade. The latter gentleman was
present by invitation, and had spoken the
evening before on certain auti-savery
resolutions which had been introduced
into the convention. The next visit was
in 1916 when he came as a member of the
examining committee of the college The
church was now without a pastor. and MS
he spent the sabbath, he was invited to
occupy the pulpit afternoon and evening.
in the evening he preached what has
gone by the name of the wooden epp
sermon" "a fact,n said Mr. Worcester
(which recollect by an auecdOte which
aiterward heard concerning it, One OF
the young ladies of the parish when the
proprety of giving Inc Il call was under
discussion, said TO her father. "Why.
father, are YOU going to giVea call to the
man that preached abou. the wooden
eggs =" She was afterWard one of my
wdrmest friends, the wooden eggs to the
contrary Notwithstanding. | received a
call to The plstorate in the following SEN
TENDER. He acted as pastor of the church
from December OF the same wear. thouph
not installed till the following March.
Few of the men prominently concerned
in this transaction are now living cor
the committee of the church-Wiliam
Hurlbut Martin A. Seymour, Henry Cat
lln-where are they? OF the society.
WHY'S Lyman, Milo l.. Bennett, Henry
Observation-Disclosures are they ?" OF the |
Installing council, numbering 10. names
all familiar to many now living, only
three slill remain. At that time only
still survived.
The previous pastorate, that of Rev. ].
h. Converse, had been the longest in the
history OF the church and a connection
50 dear to many did not end without con.
troversy, the effects of which lasted far
into the pastorate of his successor, and
were the chief obstacles to his usefulness.
Unhappy as these effects were they would |
have been far more So" said DR.. Worcrs |
ter, "but for the restraining and sottening
influence of true and sincere piety and of |
deep interest in the church's welfare"
There was, however, a decided lack of the |
capacity TO see ourselves as Others see
us and to see how things must needs APP
pear to men differently constituted from |
ourselves by nature, and of different |
trainings and surroundings. 1t was in |
reference TO this state of things that he |
preached what went by the name of the |
crooked Sermon" the third of series |
OF three from the text. that which is
crooked cannot be made straight. and thar |
which is wanting cannot be numbered y |
The sermon was prepared and delivered |
without thought of its application to |
one side more than to the other, |
still when the preaching was over |
the reaction came on he realized the |
holiness OF its utterances and feared the |
effect He was not long without eyidence
hn b,,, ~,